Roblox Server & Shared Data

When to Load

roblox-data

Quick Reference

OrderedDataStore (Leaderboards)

• Sortable DataStore. Keys must be positive integers (use UserId).

• GetSortedAsync(ascending, pageSize, minValue, maxValue)

  → sorted pages
• For leaderboards ONLY — not player data

local store = DataStoreService:GetOrderedDataStore("LeaderboardCoins")
store:SetAsync(player.UserId, playerCoins)
local top10 = store:GetSortedAsync(false, 10):GetCurrentPage()

MessagingService (Cross-Server)

• Real-time communication between server instances

• SubscribeAsync(topic, callback)

  /

  PublishAsync(topic, message)

• No delivery guarantee — design for idempotency

MessagingService:SubscribeAsync("ServerShutdown", function(msg) print(msg.Data) end)
MessagingService:PublishAsync("ServerShutdown", "server-" .. game.JobId)

GlobalDataStore (Shared State)

• Non-player shared state: guild data, season config, global counters
• Same API as DataStore but different conceptual use
• Use

  UpdateAsync

  for atomic read-modify-write (prevents race conditions)
• Never use for player data — no session locking

Persistent World State Patterns

• Building/construction games: serialize player-built structures to DataStore, reload on join
• Season/leaderboard data: OrderedDataStore for rankings, GlobalDataStore for season metadata
• Guild/clan data: GlobalDataStore with guild ID as key, MessagingService for real-time guild chat
• Economy counters: GlobalDataStore for server-wide currency totals, UpdateAsync for atomic increments

Cross-Server Patterns

• Server registration: publish server info on start, heartbeat on interval
• Player migration: notify old server to release locks via MessagingService
• Global events: publish to all servers, each handles locally

Pitfalls

• MessagingService is fire-and-forget — no delivery guarantee, no ordering
• GlobalDataStore has same rate limits as player DataStores — don't spam
• OrderedDataStore keys MUST be positive integers (use UserId)
• Never store Instances — serialize to primitives first
• UpdateAsync for any shared counter to prevent lost updates

references/full.md